Fullness of Happy

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Book Review: “Shannara” Trilogy and “The Heritage of Shannara” by Terry Brooks

Shannara Trilogy:

“The Sword of Shannara”

“The Elfstones of Shannara”

“The Wishsong of Shannara”

The Heritage of Shannara:

“The Scions of Shannara”

“The Druid of Shannara”

“The Elf Queen of Shannara”

“The Talismans of Shannara”

Finally, I have finished reading the
original Sword of Shannara Trilogy and the followup quadrilogy, “The
Heritage of Shannara”. There is a story behind how I was
introduced to these novels by Terry Brooks. When I was in 4th
grade or so, I was really into the Goosebumps books. I would read
really fast, often reading a whole book in a single night. My aunt
noticed I read really fast and recommended I read the Shannara books,
of which she had the first 7 volumes. At this time, these were the
largest books I had ever tried to read, with the first book “The
Sword of Shannara” being over 700 pages. It took me a long time to
read the first book, and I found that I often would read 20 pages and
not remember anything that had happened in them, and have to
backtrack to concentrate on them. My reading comprehension skills
were very poor for a long time. But these books challenged me,
excited, and inspired me. I read the first three books, doing a book
report on the second one, and my favorite of the series, “The
Elfstones of Shannara” for an 8th grade English paper.
Years later, about a few years ago, I decided to read them again and
try to break into the followup four book series “The Heritage of
Shannara”. I got into the second volume of this series “The
Druid of Shannara” and put it down, having lots of other reading to
do. Once again, a year or so later, I picked them back up, rereading
from the beginning and finally tonight, finishing the last book of
those I am reviewing here.

The Shannara series is a fantasy
series, being something like Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings”,
including elves, dwarves, magic, demons, and swordfighting. While I
enjoy Terry Brooks fantasy world, I find that Tolkien is far better.
But Brooks is very good to read, in my view. I know some people who
do not like his writing, but I enjoy it. The plot is essentially
about the powers of magic, and the use or misuse of magic. That is
the theme that runs throughout the series. Essentially, an order of
Druids who practice and develop magical powers, is split, where one
druid seeks to much power and is corrupted with the power they use
and try to destroy the world and rule it. It is somewhat like the
Darth Vader and Sith storyline from Star Wars, but this is not an
interstellar galactic empire, but a world-bound army where there is
no advanced technology, mostly medieval level society and there is
magic.

But the series follows the adventures
of members of a certain family, the Ohmsfords, who are partially
descended from the race of Elves which has power of magic. Each
volume find the Four Lands of Shannara threatened by some kind of
evil, demonic, destructive force or character, and the druid Allanon
charges a certain descendent of the Ohmsford, to go on a quest to
stop this danger. Often the characters bounce all over the world, of
which there is a map at the beginning of each novel, kind of like
Lord of the Rings, but totally new, seeking out magical items and
weapons and recruiting help along the way as the ever doubtful
protaganists seek to bring peace and harmony back into the threatened
land of Shannara.

Terry Brooks is someone whom I find to
be very eloquent in his descriptions of setting, characters, and
action. Especially in “The Elfstones of Shannara”, his portrayal
and descriptions of battle scenes are very exciting, fast paced and
visually imaginative. Whenever he described the setting or scenery
or action sequences, I have a very vivid idea in my mind of what the
scene looks like, what the characters are doing, and the
psychological state of the characters are. The characters are all
believable. There is a great variety of characters, and they are
easily recongizeable and distinguishable. Many of the characters are
very likeable, and there were feelings of devastation in my soul when
certain very important characters are suddenly slain or die,
sacrificing themselves to save others and keep the quest going until
it is finished. There are some interesting plot twist, and the lore
and background story behind the state of the world and the battle
between the good magic and lust for power through destructive magic
is intriguing.

One thing I would like to gladly note
is that there is a “Shannara” TV series in production, which will
be aired on MTV. The first season is going to cover the second book
“The Elfstones of Shannara”, which I mentioned before, is my
favorite in the series. I expect this will be very good, and I hope
you obtain copies of these books, and enjoy them very much. I liked
it, I hope you like it. You might not, but at least give the first
book a try, and you'll get a good idea soon of whether you like the
book or the author or not. The list at the beginning of this review
is the order in which the books should be read, just so you know.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Book Review: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain

I finished reading “The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain for the first time in my 30 years of
life. Twain called this novel his “hymn to boyhood” and it is
refreshing to read about the carefree, adventuresome antics of the
mischievous Tom Sawyer and his friends. This novel reminds one of
the days before computers, and Nintendos, iPods and Playstations,
when all we as kids needed was an imagination and a story to play
out, whether it was pirates, or treasure hunters, or whatever fantasy
would be fun to us. These were the days when treasure hunts were
real, and going out to the woods and living off the land was a grand
adventure. I think just the ability to look back to the way our
childhoods were without all the electronics and gadgets and noises
and beeps and whistles, makes this novel worth reading just in
itself. I could describe the plot and the adventures in this book,
but my main goal is to recommend you get a copy and read this and
enjoy it heartily and bask in the nostalgia to when you didn't need
advanced technology and remote controls and hi-speed Internet to
enjoy yourself with friends.

Book Review: “The Philosophy of Tolkien” by Peter Kreeft

Recently I finished reading a
nonfiction book called “The Philosophy of Tolkien” by Dr. Peter
Kreeft. I highly recommend reading this book for anyone who is
interested in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and other Middle-Earth
novels and stories. Kreeft digs through the writings and letters of
J.R.R. Tolkien and correspondence between him and his good friend
C.S. Lewis of “Chronicles of Narnia” fame to demonstrate the very
rich worldview and philosophy that fueled the creation of
Middle-Earth and his fantasy stories. Kreeft discusses such
questions as to God's existence, the existence and nature of angels,
what is beauty, the meaning of death, romance and love, knowledge,
history, language, politics, ethics. I started reading this book
over a year ago and got bored for some reason. I picked it back up a
couple of weeks ago and couldn't put it down. Perhaps this is
because I left off on the parts where Kreeft discussed two of my
favorite idea: Predestination and Providence. I recommend especially
the chapter in which Kreeft discusses Tolkien's take on ethics,
especially the battle between good and evil which Tolkien dramatized
in his novels. I want to highly recommend this book, though I feel
inadequate to the task of doing the book justice in this review, but
I want to insert here a quote about the battle between good and evil
which I thought highly uplifting and inspiring:

“Good and evil are not equally
powerful, because they are not equally real—even though evil
appears not only equal to
good but even stronger than
good (“I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier
still”). But appearance and reality do not coincide here, and in
the end evil will always reveal its inevitable self-destruction
(although often after a terrible price is paid: e.g. Napoleon,
Hitler, Stalin). The self-destruction of evil is not just
something to believe in and hope for, but to be certain of. It is
metaphysically necessary, necessary because the very kind of being
evil has by its unchangeable essence. For evil can only be a
parasite on good. It depends on a good host for it to pervert.
“Nothing is evil in the beginning” or by nature. Morgoth was one
of the Ainur, Sauron was a Maia, Saruman was the head of Gandalf's
order of Wizards, the Orcs were Elves, the Ringwraiths were great
Men, and Gollum was a Hobbit. And whenever a parasite succeeds in
killing its host, it also kills itself. So if evil succeeds, it
fails; it commits suicide.”

I
recommend this book highly. There are so many gems in the form of
quotes from Tolkien's letters and correspondence with others such as
C.S. Lewis, and I hope you will find more enjoyment in Tolkien's epic
saga the Lord of the Rings after reading this book.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Book Review: “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho

I just finished reading “The
Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, which was a gift from my brother for
Christmas. Most of all, I enjoyed reading it. It is about a
shepherd boy, seeking out his destiny, or his “Personal Legend”,
trying to find what he is meant to do in life. The book is about
trusting one's instincts and paying attention to the omens that life
provides us to guide us towards our calling. It is a very simple
story, and very short and quick to read, but very insightful,
demonstrating in a story form the idea that when we are meant to do
something, and when we want something with all our hearts, the
universe and God conspire to lead us to the realization of our
deepest and most true longings. This is an excellent, readable, and
inspiring story, which is well loved and read by millions since it
first was published. Go out and get a copy and enjoy reading this
novel at your earliest convenience. You won't regret reading it.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Book Review: “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (translation by Simon Armitage)

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
is a fairly short story of Sir Gawain of Arthur's Knights of the
Round Table. In it, the Knights are having a party or banquet, and
in barges a large green knight with his all green horse. The Green
Knight is gigantic, and all his skin and hair is green. He makes a
challenge to anyone in the hall to strike him a blow to his neck and
then that whoever does so will seek him out in his Green Chapel to
have the Green Knight strike at his neck also. Sir Gawain takes the
challenge, and cuts the Green Knight's head clean off. Strangely the
Green Knight leaves, with the agreement that Gawain will seek him out
and take a blow from the Green Knight's axe next New Year. On the
way to find him that next year, he meets a king and queen and is
tempted. He faces temptations to his chastity and continues on his
journey to meet the Green Knight. I will not give any spoilers, but
hopefully you will take time to read this story someday. One
impressive thing to note is that there is a lot of alliteration in
the verse. I am impressed with the translator's ability to retain
the amount of alliteration from the original Old/Middle English.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Book Review: “Beowulf” (translation: Seamus Heaney)

I cannot recommend enough the reading of the
Old English heroic epic tale of “Beowulf”. When I was very
young, my Uncle Nathaniel told a paraphrased version to myself and my
brother of this epic poem. Sometimes, I think he gave me the best
version, even though later in high school, and again a few weeks ago,
I read the superb Seamus Heaney verse translation. “Beowulf” is
possibly the oldest surviving English story that we have today. It
fills the need we have as human beings to long for virtuous and
strong heroes who put their own safety and survival on the line to
save and protect the innocent and vulnerable. The epic poem is
really in three parts, where the hero Beowulf fights against three
monsters who prey on the people in the party hall called the Hall of
Hearts. Beowulf fights grotesque monsters and is rewarded greatly.
I cannot do very much justice to the quality of the writing, but I
recommend everyone at least read this once, if not for enjoyment than
at least for historical literacy, as this is a very crucial piece of
literature and has a very heroic and exciting tale to tell.

Vocalizing vibrations and sweet salutationsMore than mere information squeezed through dense inebriationDelightful and dialecticalTested, tried, and true subliminalIntentional, conscious and un-criminalMaximum value of the minimal

Vocabulary strained and flexingAs some Wiccan form of hexingGreen, and red and yellow directingLike the parallel intersectingBite the apple to the coreCrush the juice into some moreDancing flavors back in storeLet it discover what it's for

Book Review: “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens

I just finished reading Charles
Dickens' famous work “Great Expectations” and am going to make an
attempt to write a decent review of it. Being new to writing
reviews, I am going to try to write whether, and for what reasons I
would recommend or discourage yourself from reading this novel. As
for whether I think this book was worth the read, I affirm the case
in the positive. I enjoyed the novel and consider the time spent
reading it well worth it. I am going to try to explain why without
giving away any spoilers.

This book I consider to be a book of
persons, a book about persons, and their characters and relationships
and the fruit of their virtues and vices. This being the first novel
by Dickens I have read, since reading “A Christmas Carol” in the
6th grade, I was most struck by the characters. Dickens
goes to great lengths to share with you the nature of his characters.
And I found that he did so, more by the actions of characters, than
by their words or dialogue. There is a lot of good dialogue, but
characters are known by their actions in this book than by their
words. This book demonstrates the fallacies we can have in trying to
judge the true nature of persons. Some characters are misjudged as
being bad persons, when in actuality, they are better natured and
charitable than those with clean reputations.

I am not really going
to reveal anything here, because I want you to take the opportunity
to read the novel yourself, but I will just say that Dickens does a
good job of describing his characters and putting them in promising
or perilous situations. Some fulfill their “great expectations”,
while others find themselves in ruin at the end. Some people are not
as they seem, some being the opposite of what popular opinion would
have of them.

But in the end, I recommend reading
this novel, and would like to hear what you think of this novel.